1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of setting a macro of a remote control, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of setting a macro of a programmable remote control using a personal computer (PC).
2. Description of the Related Art
Functions of many devices and electronic equipment are controlled by remote controls. Therefore, if the number of devices increases, the number of remote controls also increases and a user must manage various remote controls.
To solve a problem of the troublesome management of various remote controls, a programmable remote control that can operate a plurality of devices has been suggested. The programmable remote control is realized using a conventional remote control, a hand held phone (HHP), or a portable terminal.
However, since functions of different electronic devices are varied and numerous, the number of function keys of a remote control has increased. Accordingly, the number of function keys of the programmable remote control and how many times a user is required to manipulate the function keys are increasing.
For example, when a recording list stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) of a personal video recorder (PVR) is searched based on titles or dates, and when the searched item is reproduced or deleted, a recording list button, a search button, a title input button, a button to select the searched item, and a reproducing or deleting button must be sequentially controlled. Also, when a digital versatile disc (DVD) is reproduced, TV power on, DVD power on, TV external input change, and DVD reproduction mode control must be sequentially controlled.
To simplify the control procedure, a macro function of the programmable remote control has been suggested. The macro function is a function sequentially generating a string of commands corresponding to the sequentially controlled buttons as described above in a programmable remote control using one macro key. The macro key is a user defined key and is allocated to the remote control by macro functions. The string of commands is called a macro command.
However, a conventional programmable remote control can control functions of devices only after a learning function is performed, in which function keys of remote controls for each device are mapped to function keys of the programmable remote control. Accordingly, the learning function must be performed for all devices to be controlled in order to set desired macro functions and it takes too much time to perform the learning function.
Also, after the learning function is performed, macro names to be set must be defined. However, since function keys of a programmable remote control generally provide a very limited macro naming ability, it is difficult for the macro names to be variously set.
If a macro name is determined, devices and function keys that will be used for performing the macro are selected, and if the selection is finished, storing the selected devices and function keys finishes setting of the macro. At this time, if one of the devices and function keys happens to be wrongly selected or skipped, an editing process for correcting or inserting is complicated. For example, if a DVD is reproduced in a status that a TV external input change process is wrongly skipped, several function keys must be controlled to insert the TV external input change process between a DVD power on process and a DVD reproduction mode control process. Therefore, users must set a macro function again.